Combined Authority chair supports calls for more women leaders in local government.

As the UK's only�female head of a Combined Authority Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, who is also Leader of Bradford Council, is supporting the need to address the "depressingly small" number of senior female leaders in the sector

Today, the IPPR has today issued a report �Power to the people? Tackling the gender imbalance in combined authorities and local government� highlighting the gender imbalance in local and combined authorities.Responding to the report, Cllr Hinchcliffe said: �Local authorities should reflect the diversity of the communities we serve and I absolutely support the call for greater commitments to address the depressingly small number of senior female leaders in our sector.

�I am proud to be a female council Leader � supported by a female Chief Executive, Kersten England � and to have been recently appointed the only woman in the country to lead a Combined Authority. It cannot be right though in 2017, when more women are being elected to Parliament, that my situation is still the exception and not the norm in local government.

�Representing a very diverse region, we in West Yorkshire are working hard to ensure that our Combined Authority is seen as a champion for diversity both within the region and nationally. I am one of two female council leaders in the region alongside Cllr Judith Blake of Leeds, four of our six partner council chief executives are women and our Combined Authority leadership team has a 50:50 gender split.

�There is much more we can do however and I will be doing all I can � working with Andy Burnham, Steve Rotherham, and other local and combined authority leaders nationally � to encourage more women to have the incredible opportunity and privilege to enter local politics and represent their community.�